The right’s newest martyr: A racist pastor who thinks ‘blacks are cursed’

John Koletas, pastor of Grace Baptist Church, has a history of virulent racism, antisemitism and homophobia. Last week, Koletas held an AR-15 giveaway at his church in Troy, NY, prompting protests. (Youtube Screenshot [Edited])

Every day brings some new ginned-up outrage manufactured by conservatives on Twitter. Today, they’re worked up about a video that they claim shows Black Lives Matter protesters in New York State assaulting churchgoers. This morning Charlie Kirk, founder of the astroturfed libertarian campus network Turning Point USA, tweeted this out:

It was boosted by disgraced Buzzfeed plagiarist Benny Johnson, TPUSA’s creative officer, as well Judicial Watch’s Tom Fitton in a coordinated effort to dominate today’s social media cycle with an early viral post.

Showing the typical modus operandi of rightwing propaganda, they strip all context from it, including the name of the church or when it happened. Johnson claims falsely that “parishioners [are] getting dragged off the steps of their church and getting beaten by the leftist mob. Why? Because they’re Christians.”

The video he posts actually shows nothing of the sort. There’s a tense confrontation between protesters and parishioners on the steps, some yelling and for a…